


far beyond a star/near beyond the moon

by amusewithaview



Series: Said the Hatter with a sigh, "It's always Tumblr time." [12]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Namor the Sub-Mariner (Comics), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Alternate Universe - Magic, Darcy is descended from Dorma, F/M, Kidnapping, Magical Bond, Magical Darcy Lewis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-07
Updated: 2017-06-07
Packaged: 2018-11-10 03:17:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11118798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amusewithaview/pseuds/amusewithaview
Summary: Darcy is not really sure how she feels about moving to New York, specifically to Stark Tower.  It’s not that it’s a city, she’s lived in those before.  It’s not that she’ll be living with the Avengers.  It’s the proximity to the ocean.“Are you scared of the ocean?” Jane asks, confused.“Not exactly,” Darcy hedges.





	far beyond a star/near beyond the moon

**Author's Note:**

> **DUBIOUS CONSENT WARNING RE MAGIC (not sex). See end notes for a more detailed explanation.**

Darcy is not really sure how she feels about moving to New York, specifically to Stark Tower.  It’s not that it’s a city, she’s lived in those before.  It’s not that she’ll be living with the Avengers.  It’s the proximity to the ocean.

“Are you scared of the ocean?” Jane asks, confused.

“Not exactly,” Darcy hedges.

“Because this wasn’t an issue in London.”

“Kind of an issue in London,” she admits.  “But!  I always knew London was temporary.  We were never going to be there for very long, lets be real.”

Jane shrugs, “So think of the Tower as being temporary.  What’s the big deal with the ocean anyways?”

“It’s a family tradition.  Kind of.  It’s hard to explain.  Just promise me any swimming we do will be limited to pools and such.  Me and salt water are not mixy things.”

“Sure, I mean, why would we have any reason to go in the ocean?”

* * *

“So,” Darcy said, voice high-pitched and about as frightened as Jane had ever heard it.  “Remember that conversation, all those months ago, about ocean water and me and how they should not be mixed?”

“Uh-huh,” Jane said, eyes fixed on the steadily rising level of water in their little prison.  “This isn’t my fault though, nobody could have predicted this.”

“Totally not blaming you, boss-lady,” Darcy assured her.  The younger woman’s face was white as a sheet and her eyes were glassy with either fear or a concussion, it was hard to tell under these circumstances.  “I mean, who’d have thought that the baddie of the week with a mad-on for Thor would live in a freaking houseboat?  What are the odds, amirite?”

“Slim to none.”

“But the whole water thing.  That still stands,” Darcy said, now edging up onto a cot as best she could considering her arms were shackled to the wall.  “I _can’t_ touch the water, _please_ don’t let me touch the water, my mom is gonna _kill me_.  My grandmother is probably _rolling in her watery grave_.”

The physicist tabled that last factoid for further investigation at a later date before doing another visual sweep of their slowly-sinking prison.  There was still no escape, that hadn’t changed at all.  What _had_ changed was: “I hate to break it to you, Darcy, but you’re bleeding into the water.  For at least a minute or two, since the water reached us.  Not enough that I’m worried about sharks, but… that is a pretty bad head wound.”

“I’ve been - oh _fuck_.”  The brunette’s head dropped forward and she heaved a sigh.  When she lifted her face again, the fear had been mostly wiped away, replaced with resignation.  “This has been, just, the _shittiest_ day.  And it’s only going to get worse.”

As if on queue, there was a loud crunching noise and then a man burst through one side of the room, bringing with him a _deluge_ of water.

“You _moron_ ,” Darcy shouted, “you’re going to get us killed!”

“No, I will not,” he said firmly, taking the room in at a glance before stalking over to Darcy and unceremoniously _ripping her chains off the wall_.  He didn’t _remove_ the chains, Jane noticed.  In fact, he looped a few of them over one of his wrists.  He reached out and gently ran his fingers over Darcy’s skull, scowling when he reached the bleeding bump on her head, before cupping her cheek.

“I’m not _her_ ,” Darcy said firmly, turning her face away.

His eyes narrowed dangerously.  “You are of her line, the contract stands.”

“Um, I hate to interrupt, but could we maybe get out of here before we sink entirely?” Jane asked.

The man turned to her, raising a single brow.  “And that matters?  We will breathe as easily below the surface as we do above.”

“That’s not actually been tested,” Darcy corrected him.  “Also, if you allow my best friend to _die_ , I will _murder you_ ,” she said, so much conviction in her voice that said friend flinched.

The man pursed his lips, frowning.  “Very well, I will rescue your friend.”  He tugged Darcy along behind him and ripped Jane’s chains off the wall as well.  He removed the manacles at her wrists as well, what could only be superstrength tearing the metal away as if it was tissue paper.  Once freed, he wrapped an arm around each woman and pulled them through the hole he’d made in the hull.

“Deep breath, Janie!” Darcy shouted just before they hit the water.

They reached the beach in mere moments, Jane was utterly unprepared for the speed the strange man used to get them to the surface.  She slumped down on the rocky ground, coughing and gasping before flopping over onto her back.  She quickly stood, turning to find Darcy and the man having a stare-off, still knee-deep in the surf.

“You can’t make me,” Darcy insisted.  “Well, you could, but I’ll spend every minute of the rest of my life trying to get away.  I have friends on the surface, good friends, and they’ll come for me.”

“They would wage war on Atlantis for you?” he asked, not sounding skeptical, merely curious.

Darcy’s certainty wobbled for a second before she nodded.  “Hell yeah.”

“What would you suggest, then?” the man asked, still sounding curious, almost reasonable.  Jane noticed that he hadn’t dropped the chains, though.  Darcy’s wrists were still in the manacles, and the restraints were still curled up around one of the man’s forearms.

“Leave me _alone!_ ” she said.  “Jesus Christ, my grandmother fled to freaking _Wisconsin_ so she could get away from you people!”

“From _Krang_ ,” he corrected her harshly.  “I am not Krang.”

“I know who you are,” now Darcy just sounded tired, “and I know who I am.”

“Do you?  You’ve given your blood to the ocean, returned to the only mother that matters.  Do you really think she’ll relinquish her claim so easily?”  His tone turned contemplative, “What dark magics did Dorma have to draw on to flee so far, to hide so well?”

“Do you really want to know?” Darcy asked evenly.  “I’ll say it again: let me _go_ , Namor.  I’m not yours, I’ll never _be_ yours.  My mother’s line might have come from the oceans, but I was born on land.  Let me _go_.”

It was kind of terrifying how quickly the man went from calm and reasonable to downright ferocious.  “Never,” he snarled, practically - no, wait - _literally_ baring his teeth at Darcy.  He lifted his free hand to his mouth and did something - bit himself?

“No, don’t!” Darcy shouted.

He wrapped both hands around the chains and pulled her closer.  Jane stepped forward, she had to do _something_ \- and was brought to a halt by her shock when the chains started to _glow_.  It got brighter and brighter until she had to cover her eyes.  It took a minute for her eyes to adjust again, when they did -

“You _asshole_ ,” Darcy cried, staggering back as she stared down at her hands in horror.  “ _What the fuck did you just do?_ ”

The chains were gone, but everywhere the chains had touched there was now a glinting, golden tattoo.  It wrapped around both of Darcy’s wrists and over one of her palms.  The man - Namor - had matching marks over both of his palms and up one forearm to the elbow.

“You cannot run from _this_ , Princess,” he said smugly.

**Author's Note:**

> **Detailed warning: Namor does something magically binding that Darcy explicitly DOES NOT consent to (think a cross between a tether and a really flashy magical engagement ring). It's not really addressed in this fic, but there are implications.**
> 
>  
> 
> Original tumblr tags include:  
> BETROTHAL CONTRACTS  
> MAGIC WILL HAVE ITS DUE  
> MAGICAL BINDINGS  
> NONCONSENSUAL BINDINGS  
> BASICALLY DARCY'S GRANDMA RAN AWAY FROM THE OCEAN  
> BECAUSE KRANG VS NAMOR AND SHE WANTED TO TAKE A THIRD OPTION  
> BUT THERE WAS STILL A CONTRACT BETWEEN NAMOR AND DORMA  
> AND IF ANYONE FROM DORMA'S LINE EVER TOUCHED THE WATER HE WOULD KNOW  
> DARCY DONE FUCKED UP  
> HE FOUND HER  
> THIS GOT DARKER THAN I INTENDED  
> BUT NAMOR SEEMS LIKE KIND OF AN ASSHOLE  
> A SMUG ASSHOLE

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [like a lazy ocean hugs the shore](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12718440) by [amusewithaview](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amusewithaview/pseuds/amusewithaview)




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